Newcastle United Under-18s manager Dave Watson has hailed his side’s second half performance against Tottenham Hotspur despite The Magpies falling to a 5-3 defeat to the North Londoners in the Quarter Finals of the FA Youth Cup at St James’ Park.
United’s youngsters faced an uphill task after conceding two goals inside the first six minutes of the match on Tyneside but The Magpies battled on and scored three times in a thrilling second half.
Watson’s men threw everything at their opponents as they looked to grab a lifeline in the match but with every Newcastle United goal came a response from the visitors and Spurs eventually killed off The Magpies’ threat with a fifth goal in second half injury time.
After exiting the competition, United boss Watson admitted that he was delighted with his side’s excellent second half showing at St James’ Park.
“It was a magnificent effort in the second half” Watson told The72 after the match.
“The first 10 minutes where we conceded the two goals made it a real uphill battle.
“We had a chat with the lads at half time and wanted to see what they were made of and the second half performance was magnificent to get as close to getting back into the game.”
When asked about the reasons behind Newcastle United’s fightback Watson added “The last 15 minutes of the first half we started to do an awful lot better.
“It was carrying that momentum on (second half) and we got off to a great start by getting a penalty early in the second half and it gave the lads the encouragement to kick on from there.”
Newcastle United beat Portsmouth (4-1), Swansea City (3-1) and Sunderland (4-3) en route to the FA Youth Cup Quarter Finals and Watson admitted that he is immensely proud of his side’s achievements in this season’s competition.
“I’m delighted with them” said The Magpies boss.
“I think we’ve scored about 16 goals on our journey. It’s been entertainment value and that’s what you get with kids that are developing.”
Newcastle United will now return to Under-18 Premier League action with an away fixture at Everton on Wednesday afternoon.
